Piano.



P. DUFFY.

PIANO.

APPLICATION TILED JAN.19, 1904. RENEWED 0c: 24, 1908.

Patented Mar. 2, 1909.

2 BHEETS-SHEET l.

Altome /f' ZNVENTOR:

P. DUFFY.

PIANO.

OCT 24, 1908.

Patented Mar. 2, 1909.

2 SHEETS-SHEET 2.

UNITED PETER DUFFY, OF NEW YORK, N. Y.

PIANG.

Application filed January 19, 1904, Serial No. 189,673. Renewed ()etober 24, 1908. Serial No. 459.367.

T 0 all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, PETER DUFFY, of New York, in the county of N ew York, State of N v York, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Pianos, of which the following is a complete specification, reference being had to the accompanying drawings.

The object of my invention is to improve the tonal quality of a piano, by the introduction into its structure of a separator between its sounding board and its frame.

In ordinary piano construction the sound.- ing board is provided near its edges with strip of wood, in effect continuous, that is glued to the face of the sounding board next to the frame, and'which is in turn secured, as by gluing, to the frame. In such construction, if the frame be of wood, the tone of the instrument is to a considerable extent absorbed by the wood. Attempts have been made to improve the tone by the employment of an iron frame, but the intended object has not been reached, for the reasc that the metal frame presents too much dead weight to be vibrated and the effect is to deaden, instead of to improve the tone of the instrument.

By my invention I obtain a distinctively characteristic quality of tone, which appears to be in large measure accounted for by the fact that the resonating mechanism of the instrument, although mechanically united to, is separated from the stress-sustaining mechanism or frame of the instrument in such manner and by such means hereinafter specified as produce characteristic variation in the tonal quality of the instrument.

What constitutes my invention will be hereinafter described in detail, and succinctly set forth in the appended claims.

In the accompanying drawing: Figure I is a perspective view of the frame of an ordinary upright piano, presented as an example of any piano frame, and to which my invention is applied; Fig. II is a front elevation of the subject-matter of Fig. I, showing the string plate with its strings and the sounding board partially broken away. Fig. III is a view similar to Fig. II, showing both the string plate and the sounding board removed, and exhibiting a frame embodying my invention, ready for the application thereto of the sounding board. Fig. IV is a section as on the line IV-IV of Fig. III,

Specification of Letters Patent.

i i 1 l I Patented March 2, 1909 showing simply in a diagrammatic way the relation thereto of the sounding board and string plate. Fig. V is a detail sectional view as on the line V-V of Fig. I clearly illustrating the relation of my invention to a piano structure familiarly known in the art. Referring to the numerals on the drawings, 1 (compare for example I igs. II, III, and I") indicates the wrest plank and posts or uprights, which, of any preferred number, with the usual spacing blocks at top and bottom, constitute the typical wooden frame of a piano. The lower set of blocks referred to is indicated by the reference numeral 4 in Fig. III. The upper set are identical with the lower set, except in point of location, and being of familiar use in the art, are not shown in the drawings.

5, 6, '7, and 8 (compare forinstanco and IV) are conse r zive, appr mately contiguous strips, which constitute in effect the continuous marginal strip to which the sounding board it) ma be, as is usually the practice, glued. The einplo -tment of any ordinary or preferred material for the aforesaid marginal strip and sounding board is contemplated within the scope of my invention, the material usually employed being wood.

Having now, by reference to the drawings, described by way of example certain piano construction familiar in the art, I next proceed, first reiterating that the structure referred to is shown and described only by wa -J of examp e, to point out that which censtitutes my present invention.

My invention, as has already been stated in general terms, consi s of a separator incorporated in a piano 5 ucture between the sounding board and the frame, whereby the separator is made to constitute in effect a division wall or line of partition, so to speak, between the resonating members of the instrument, represented by the sounding board, on the one hand, and the stress sustaining means thereof on the other hand, represented by the frame. The separator is indicated by reference numerals 11, 12, 13, and 14 (compare Figs. I and IV with Fig. I I, each of its members being indicated in the last named figure, and three of them being shown in Fig. I). The separator is so designated because it essentially separates the sounding board from the frame which carries it, the marginal strips 5 to 8 inelusive being glued to and constituting a part of the sounding board. The separator is therefore functionally a single member, and may be so constituted structurally, although for convenience the separator may be divided into the several members specified and illustrated, if preferred. lf divers members be enployed to constitute a separator, they are preferably made noncontiguous, in order to eliminate possible conflict of vibration between them. he metallic strips constituting the separator as illustrated, are shown as of an ular cross section, which is a preferred, but by no means essential, detail.

As a convenient means of securing the separator to the frame of the piano, sore .s 15 at suitable intervals may be employed. Phey are preferably inserted tlnough the sounding board marginal strip, or strips respectively, as well as through the separator, orseparator members, the sounding board being applied to the marginal strips and glued thereto after assemblage of the marginal s ips with the separator and frame has been made.

The foregoing specification may serve to define my invention to one skilled in the art, but with a view of rendering its several relationships in a complete instrument more apparent, l illustrate also in the various figures of the drawings various additional members of a complete instrument, all related, to be sure, to my invention, but related more or less indirectly thereto. in Fig. ll especially, but also in Fig. V, and diagrammatically in if IV, I show a string plate 17, which, being applied, as shown, in front of the sounding board 10, is fixed in place upon the frame as by screws 18 and 19 (see Fig. V). It being necessary to prevent actual contact between the string plate and the sounding board, I employ opposite to the marginal strips with which the sounding board is provided, spacing strips 20 which, although they may be dispensed with, afford convenient means of compactly assembling the string plate with the sounding boare, its marginal strips and separator upon the frame of the instrument. in V, in which the several relationships of the mem bers last above referred to are clearly illustrated, I show also one of the strings, desig nated by the reference numeral 21, which, passing over the bridge 22 of the string plate, and under a confining strip 23, is secured to a hitch pin 24.

The structural features of my invention in illustrative form of embodiment thereof having now been specified, and the wide variability of the separator in point of form having also been specified, it remains only to add that the material of which the sep arator may be made may also be selected within a wide range, determined chiefly by its greater density as compared with wood, w ence its characteristic quality, is derived. ding to limit myself to a speci- I may mention steel, brass, bratile nature, and

aluminium, or metal of \l gl Steel has een specified as the proat L material, because of its comparative cheapness and available utility.

t l clain is:

piano, the con'ibination with its 1 te, and sounding board, of a metallic separator in vibratory communication with said souneing board, and between the frame and sounding board.

2. ln a iano, tie combination with its frame, sting plate, and sounding-board, of a metallic separator in contact with said sounding-board, and between th frame and sounding-board.

3. ln a piano, the combination wit its frame, string plate, and sounding board, of a continuous metallic separator in vibratory communication with said sounding board, and between the frame and sounding board.

4. ln piano, the combination wi h its frame, string plate, and sounding-board, of a continuous metallic separator of angular cross-section in contact with said soundingboard, and between the frame and soundingboard.

5. in piano, the combination with a frame, of sounding-board, including a strip of the same material as the sounding-board proper and secured thereto, and a metallic separator in contact with the strip and between the strip and the frame.

In testimony of all which I have hereunto subscribed my name.

PETER DUFFY.

Vitnesses:

Ms. W. lvlILLS,

T T sinner i1. FELT. 

